World Wide Quilting Page

Question of the Week

Question for the week of March 23, 1998:

Our question this week comes from Claire Breen

What can one use to mark the top which will wash out easily?

Carolyn Solomon :
I like to use chalk pencils available from art stores. They come in a variety of colors and will brush off when through. The only drawback is you can mark a small section at a time, as it does so easily brush off the fabric.

Diane :
A bar of 'Ivory' soap works great on dark fabric. It's pure, no oils and nice and square. Cut it in half or in thirds length wise with a serated bread knife and you have two or three marking pens. You may have to shave the corners once in awhile to keep that point, and my husband has never complained about his razor being dull!
Elley Jo Zakula :
Chalk Pencils- for quick projects work good, you can get them in several different colors, but they aren't for long term projects because they brush off easily!
Soapstone pencils work well on a hard surface with dark fabric, and wash out.

If you aren't worried about the chemicals, the wash-away blue fine line marker works very well. Caution! It can heat set! And only wash in cold water.
There is also a mechanical pencil, that has lead that washes out. Colored lead also available. Possibly can get it through Keepsake Quilting?

llynnda doerner :
Contrary to many quilters I use a soft
pencil 2B,3B,4B etc and lightly drag it
along the surface. I then soak the
quilt in "Bioad" and all the lines dis-
appear. It works well for smocking dots
too.
Adrian :
I use tailor's chalk, light or dark depending on the
fabric. It will rub off easily.
Judy Fuchs :
I use a plain lead pencil. It well rub out as I quilt and it washes right out.
Janet :
I use Berol Prisma Color pencils, which are artist's colored pencils. They come in tons of colors, and so long as you don't bear down hard, they wash out. My favorite is non-photo or sky blue, because it shows up on light & dark colors.
Nan :
Beleive it or not - regular sidewalk or blackboard chalk is best. It can be sharpened, and brushes off or washes out completely. Stay from the exotic colors - stick to the white and yellow or pale blue or pink. It marks on all colors, stays as long as you need it, then is easy to remove. Plus, CHEAP!!
Lily :
I like the purple fadeaway marker.
It gets lighter and disappears overnight.
Obviously this is for short-term projects.
Long term - Any of the marking pencils
work well for me and seem to wash out
completely.
Louise :
As I was saying, on the darker fabrics I use soapstone pencil, tailors chalk shaved very thin and sharp, a chaconer or slivers of soap (non oily) please. If you use a regular lead pencil do it during the day as one tends to mark too heavily at night. I have had problems getting lead pencil markings out of a finished quilt..Always test first the soapstone or chalk seem to be the safest tool..Good luck!
Louise :
For dark fabrics I like to use soap slivers (Non oily, please) or a soapstone pencil. I use a pencil with a very light hand. NEVER mark at night as you tend to mark to heavily..
Galani :
My favorite way to mark a quilt top is by using a hera marker. To do this you build your quilt sandwich and baste the layers together. Then using a straight edge and the hera marker, you can mark straight quilting lines in geometric designs. The hera marker makes an thin crease in the fabric that you can easily see while quilting, and then there are no messy inks to deal with afterwards. The only drawback is that it doesn't work too well for curved designs.

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